Board of Governors - APPENDIX IV - January 28, 1999

ITEMS REFERRED BY SENATE

FOR INFORMATION

Strategic Plan for King's College

Western's Affiliated Colleges, Brescia, Huron, and King's, enable the University to offer students the resources of a major research university and also the atmosphere of a particular College community, focussed on the study of the liberal arts, humanities and social sciences. In the cases of Brescia and King's Colleges, this education occurs within a Catholic context; Huron College is affiliated with the Anglican Diocese of Huron. The Colleges provide valuable contributions to the University through their unique academic programs (such as the Human Ecology program at Brescia, Social Work at King's and International and Comparative Studies at Huron) and offerings in the arts and social sciences correlative with programs at the Constituent University.

King's College, the largest of Western's three Affiliated Colleges, recently completed a Strategic Plan, outlining the College's mission, vision, and commitments as a Catholic community of learning. The Strategic Plan, Vision, Values and Learning, is attached as Annex 1. [Not available on the Web. Paper copies are available from the University Secretariat.]

Start Date for Classes for January 2000 and Revised Sessional Dates

The start date for resumption of classes in January 2000 will be revised, subject to Senate approval on January 22, from January 3 to January 10 in anticipation that the City and the University could encounter serious power and heating problems resulting from the Y2K problem. Other sessional dates for the winter term will be adjusted slightly, such that final examinations will conclude on Saturday, April 29, rather than Friday, April 28, 1999.

MD/BESc Concurrent Degree Proposal (Chemical and Biochemical Engineering)

Subject to Senate approval (January 22, 1999), a limited enrolment concurrent degree program between the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry and the Faculty of Engineering Science, Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering will be established, effective September 1999. The program will lead to the MD and BESc degrees after seven years of academic studies.

Report on the 243rd meeting of the Council of Ontario Universities

See Annex 2. [below]

Announcements

Faculty of Health Sciences

R.C. Watson, Director, School of Kinesiology, September 1, 1998 - June 30, 2001.

Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry

J.G. Cairncross, Chair, Department of Oncology, November 23, 1998 - June 30, 2004.

Report on the 243rd Meeting of the Council of Ontario Universities

D.M.R. Bentley, Academic Colleague

At the meetings of the Academic Colleagues and the Council of Ontario Universities in Toronto on December 10 and 11, 1998, several matters of interest and importance were discussed and decided:

  1. The Report of a Task Force on "Access to Degrees for Ontario's College Students" was discussed at length and approved in principle. The position of the Report is that, with seventeen, geographically dispersed universities already in existence, the Province does "not require additional degree-granting institutions" and that "access to degrees for Ontario's college students should be improved by accelerated articulation and collaboration" between and among the universities and the colleges.

    During the discussion of the Report, it became apparent that pressure from colleges for degree-granting status is likely to continue and that, among other things, the COU must arri ve at a convincing definition of a university and a degree in the Ontario context.

  2. Approval was given to the Report of a Task Force on "Recruitment and Application Guidelines" that endorses the principle of uniformity regarding admission requirements and procedures (six OACs, common dates for offers, responses, etc.) and reminds admissions officers of the inappropriateness of using scholarships, residence accommodation and the like in a coercive manner. (A summary of the Report's recommendations has been sent to the Registrar's Office.)

  3. The impending release of a government-sponsored survey of the employment rates of university graduates may be a cause of concern to the universities on two counts: (i) the methodology of the survey, and (ii) the misrepresentation of its results in the media and elsewhere. Universities should be prepared to look closely and critically at the survey.

  4. At present, athletic scholarships are not permitted at Ontario universities, but there is pressure from at least two institutions (Lakehead and Laurentian) to have this prohibition lifted, and a debate of the issues and principles involved appears to be in the offing.

  5. The public opinion research plan associated with the "Meeting Ontarians' Expectations" initiative is moving ahead apace under the guidance of Michael Gourley (who, of course, needs no introduction to The University of Western Ontario) focus-group sessions have been held between January 11 and 15, survey fieldwork completed between January 18 and 25, and interviews with business leaders conducted between January 11 and 25. The final report will be submitted to COU on February 25. Thanks, in part, to pressure from the Academic Colleagues, the contents of the questionnaires, the nature of the focus groups, and the types of business leaders to be consulted have been expanded so as better to reflect the activities and concerns of the universities.

    The likelihood that, in addition to the bulge created by the "double-cohort" in 2003, there will be an increase of some 50,000 students who are eligible for university from 2005 to 2010, gives some ground for hope that the government will provide funds for faculty renewal and university expansion in the coming decade. Since the projected increase in students and the preceding and accompanying "retirement bulge" will be North America wide phenomena, the question arises of whether and how Ontario universities will be able to educate, recruit, and retain the number and quality of faculty that will be needed.

  6. The process of naming the Board for the Millennium Foundation Scholarships is nearly complete and the Board is expected to meet in early February. The COU has urged that "wherever possible, the elements of the program [be] harmonized with existing student assistance programs, both federal and provincial" and the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada takes the view that students enrolled at all its member universities should be eligible for the scholarships (95% of which is slated to be needs-based and 5% on exceptional merit).

  7. The COU is sponsoring a colloquium on "Technology-Based Teaching/Learning" that will take place between 2:30 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. on February 11 and be broadcast by satellite to Royal Roads University, the University of Calgary, and a university in the Maritimes. Some forty people will be able to attend the colloquium in Toronto, and "[r]emote sites" will be able to "participate" in discussion via "two-way telephone lines." Details have been forwarded to the Educational Development Office.